NIA court rejects Anand Teltumbde's plea to visit Kochi litfest

Mumbai, Nov 26 (PTI) A special NIA court here on Wednesday denied permission to Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case accused, Anand Teltumbde, to attend the Kochi literature festival, where he is invited as a speaker,

citing lack of inevitable circumstances for the visit and noting it as a sort of “academic luxury”. Special judge, Chakor Baviskar, stated that the grounds mentioned in the plea are “not sort of an emergency or extreme circumstances which are inevitable and make him incumbent to go”.

“It is sort of luxury, academic though,” the court added.

The activist was arrested in April 2020 for his alleged role in the case, which pertains to the alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

Teltumbde was granted bail by the Supreme Court on November 22. One of his bail conditions was not to leave the jurisdiction of the trial court without its permission.

In a plea moved before the special court, Teltumbde sought permission to travel to Kochi for two days from November 28 to 30 for academic purpose.

Teltumbde stated that he has been invited as a speaker in a unique festival of art and literature in the historic city of Kochi.

The prosecution opposed Teltumbde’s plea, saying that the accused is habituated to seeking permission to proceed out of Mumbai every now and then.

After hearing submissions, the court noted that earlier these accused had been granted the same liberty to go beyond the local limits of the jurisdiction of the court.

It said that the grounds raised in the current application were almost identical to the previous one.

“The present applicant/accused might be a scholar and academician in his field; however, the high court, with specific intention, has imposed that condition on the applicant/accused, not to go beyond the local limits of jurisdiction of the court,” the special judge said.

“The grounds and reasons contended by him are not a sort of an emergency or extreme circumstances which are inevitable and make him incumbent to go,” he added. PTI AVI NSK